Cologne vs Sydney - Cost of Living Comparison

Updated: October 14, 2025

	Cologne	Sydney
🚶 Cost of living one person	$1968	$2640
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Cost of living Family	$4619	$6276
🏠 One person rent	$1091	$1578
🏘️ Family rent	$1830	$2764
🍽️ Food expenses	$536	$549
🚐 Transport expenses	$196	$366
💳 Monthly salary after tax	$3266	$4008
😷 Air quality	Excellent	Excellent
✈️ Airport proximity	15 km	9 km
🎓 Higher education	91	99
😀 Quality of life	96	100
🏙️ Population	1.09M	5.45M

The cost of living in Cologne is 25% less expensive than in Sydney. Cities ranked 2104th and 649th ($1968 vs $2640) in the list of the most expensive cities in the world and ranked 11th and 1st in Germany and Australia, respectively. Check Germany vs Australia comparison.

The average after-tax salary is enough to cover living expenses for 1.7 months in Cologne compared to 1.5 months in Sydney. Cologne ranked 1st best city to live in Germany vs Sydney ranked 2nd in Australia, while ranked 23rd and 3rd among best cities to live in the world.

Salary adjustment calculator
the estimated difference in money purchasing power

Cost of living in Cologne vs Sydney infographic

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Prices in Cologne vs Sydney

Prices for goods and services in Cologne and Sydney are partly crowdsourced by our visitors, just like yourself. Please consider telling us about your city.

	Cologne	Sydney
Eating Out
🍱 Lunch Menu	$15.4	$13.9
🥂 Dinner in a Restaurant, for 2	$71.5	$77.7
🥪 Fast food meal, equiv. McDonald's	$11.3	$9.79
🍻 Beer in a Pub, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$5.26	$7.2
☕ Cappuccino	$4.06	$3.47
🥤 Pepsi / Coke, 0.5 L or 16.9 fl oz	$3.38	$2.62
Rent & Utilities
🏙️ 1 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$1103	$1915
🏡 Cheap 1 bedroom apartment, 40 m2 or 430 ft2	$870	$1294
🏙️ 3 bedroom apartment in Downtown, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1997	$3447
🏡 Cheap 3 bedroom apartment, 80 m2 or 860 ft2	$1478	$2319
🔌 Utility Bill one person, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$133	$112
🔌 Utility Bill for a Family, electricity, heating, water, etc.	$206	$172
🌐 Internet plan, 50 Mbps+ 1 month unlimited	$41.8	$47.9
🏦 Mortgage Interest Rate for 20 Years	3.8%	6.15%
🏙️ Apartment price to Buy in city Center, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$6855	$12628
🏡 House price to Buy in Suburbs, 1 m2 or 10 ft2	$5848	$7359
Transportation
🚌 Local transport ticket	$3.93	$3.27
🎟️ Monthly ticket local transport	$67.6	$134
🚕 Taxi Ride, 8 km or 5 mi	$24	$23.2
⛽ Gas / Petrol, 1 L or 0.26 gal	$2.03	$1.25
Groceries
🥛 Milk, 1 L or 1 qt	$1.38	$1.59
🍞 Bread, 0.5 kg or 1.1 lb	$2.03	$2.27
🍚 Rice, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.87	$1.99
🥚 Eggs, x12	$4.16	$5.43
🧀 Cheese, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$14.7	$12.3
🐔 Chicken Breast, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$12.6	$8.55
🥩 Round Steak, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$23.3	$13.9
🍏 Apples, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$3.25	$3.27
🍌 Banana, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.05	$2.8
🍊 Oranges, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$2.17	$2.98
🍅 Tomato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$4.63	$4.04
🥔 Potato, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.73	$2.52
🧅 Onion, 1 kg or 2.2 lb	$1.22	$2.36
🌊 Water, 1 L or 1 qt	$0.77	$0.8
🍹 Coca-Cola / Pepsi, 2 L or 67.6 fl oz	$2.45	$2.45
🍾 Wine (mid-priced), 750 mL bottle	$7.3	$14.3
🍺 Beer, 0.5 L or 16 fl oz	$1.14	$4.45
🚬 Cigarette pack	$9.05	$29.1
💊 Cold medicince, 1 week	$8.07	$8.2
🧴 Hair Shampoo	$2.45	$5.8
🧻 Toilet paper, 4 rolls	$1.93	$2.68
👄 Toothpaste, 1 tube	$1.67	$2.71
Other
🏋️ Gym Membership, 1 month	$40.3	$58.2
🎫 Cinema Ticket, 1 person	$13.3	$15.1
👩‍⚕️ Doctor's visit	$54.3	$63.6
💇 Haircut, simple	$20.9	$20
👖 Brand Jeans	$98	$75.3
👟 Brand Sneakers	$109	$99.5
👶 Daycare or Preschool, 1 month	$773	$2071
🏫 International Primary School, 1 year	$19386	$19140

Cost of living in other countries

Cost of living

Cost of Living in the nearest cities

Cities near Cologne

Distance	City	Cost of living
9.2 km or 5.7 mi	Hurth	$1759
10 km or 6.4 mi	Leverkusen	$2037
10 km or 6.4 mi	Frechen	$1745
13 km or 7.9 mi	Bruhl	$1744
13 km or 7.9 mi	Pulheim	$1741
14 km or 8.4 mi	Wesseling	$1740
14 km or 8.5 mi	Bergisch Gladbach	$1726
15 km or 9.3 mi	Niederkassel	$1750
16 km or 10 mi	Rosrath	$1699
18 km or 11 mi	Monheim am Rhein	$1740
19 km or 12 mi	Dormagen	$1711
19 km or 12 mi	Erftstadt	$1702
19 km or 12 mi	Langenfeld	$1727
20 km or 12 mi	Troisdorf	$1736
20 km or 12 mi	Leichlingen	$1708
20 km or 12 mi	Kerpen	$1695
21 km or 13 mi	Bornheim	$1770
21 km or 13 mi	Lohmar	$1694
22 km or 14 mi	Bergheim	$1678
23 km or 15 mi	Siegburg	$1716
24 km or 15 mi	Overath	$1642
25 km or 16 mi	Sankt Augustin	$1747
25 km or 16 mi	Bonn	$1957
26 km or 16 mi	Hilden	$1674
26 km or 16 mi	Solingen	$1691
27 km or 17 mi	Elsdorf	$1654
28 km or 17 mi	Wermelskirchen	$1630
28 km or 17 mi	Haan	$1645
28 km or 18 mi	Bedburg	$1650
29 km or 18 mi	Hennef	$1666
31 km or 19 mi	Grevenbroich	$1659
31 km or 19 mi	Remscheid	$1608
31 km or 20 mi	Erkrath	$1661
33 km or 20 mi	Konigswinter	$1611
34 km or 21 mi	Euskirchen	$1674
34 km or 21 mi	Neuss	$1650
34 km or 21 mi	Mettmann	$1613
35 km or 21 mi	Zulpich	$1662
35 km or 21 mi	Meckenheim	$1689
35 km or 22 mi	Dusseldorf	$1979

Cities near Sydney

Distance	City	Cost of living
15 km or 9.2 mi	Dee Why	$2181
19 km or 12 mi	Parramatta	$2292
29 km or 18 mi	Kellyville	$1888
29 km or 18 mi	Blacktown	$1599
69 km or 43 mi	Wollongong	$1580
117 km or 73 mi	Newcastle	$1839
158 km or 98 mi	Bathurst	$1568
168 km or 104 mi	Goulburn	$1678
205 km or 127 mi	Orange	$1364
247 km or 154 mi	Canberra	$2019
301 km or 187 mi	Dubbo	$1747
314 km or 195 mi	Port Macquarie	$1633
377 km or 234 mi	Armidale	$1184
378 km or 235 mi	Wagga Wagga	$1458
436 km or 271 mi	Coffs Harbour	$1988
478 km or 297 mi	Griffith	$1667
597 km or 371 mi	Shepparton	$1662
624 km or 388 mi	Byron Bay	$2471
638 km or 396 mi	Traralgon	$1813
683 km or 425 mi	Gold Coast	$2297
689 km or 428 mi	Southport	$2140
695 km or 432 mi	Pakenham	$1725
701 km or 436 mi	Berwick	$1706
706 km or 439 mi	Bendigo	$1362
706 km or 439 mi	Toowoomba	$1639
707 km or 439 mi	Dandenong	$1736
711 km or 442 mi	Ipswich	$1662
711 km or 442 mi	Cranbourne	$1674
713 km or 443 mi	South Yarra	$1681
713 km or 443 mi	Melbourne	$2308
716 km or 445 mi	Sunbury	$1768
724 km or 450 mi	Frankston	$1728
732 km or 455 mi	Melton	$1738
733 km or 455 mi	Brisbane	$2065
735 km or 457 mi	Tarneit	$1673
736 km or 457 mi	Hoppers Crossing	$1697
775 km or 481 mi	Caboolture	$1798
778 km or 484 mi	Geelong	$2058
779 km or 484 mi	Ballarat	$1464
807 km or 502 mi	Caloundra	$1710